Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.0

Drive 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 7, 2022

The vagaries of licensing often offer fans a kind of weird insight into the wheeling and dealing of the home video market, and in that regard it's perhaps salient to note that this new 4K UHD release of Drive is being put out by a label different than the one that only fairly recently released the film on a 1080 disc. 88 Films' US branch is delving into the 4K UHD market with this new release, and like many other niche labels recently, they're putting it out without an attendant 1080 version, though that may be due to some of those licensing issues, since it was MVD Visual that released the film on 1080 disc last year. Commendably all (or at least most -- see my comments about the Deleted Scenes, below) of the supplements that were on the 1080 release that MVD Visual's MVD Rewind Collection imprint offered only about a year ago, give or take, are included here.

Those wanting a plot recap are invited to look at my original Drive Blu- ray review of MVD Visual's 1080 release from last year.

Drive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080 disc released by MVD Visual.

Drive is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of 88 Films with a 2160p transfer in 2.35:1. Kind of comically considering it's now a year later, 88 Films' utilizes more or less the same verbiage as MVD did last year by proclaiming this to be "a brand new 4K scan of the original camera negative". This is by and large a very winning looking presentation, though once again I'm not completely sure the increased resolution is a consistent "friend" to grain resolution, which can often look pretty clumpy and tinged with either yellow or blue. The increased resolution also arguably makes some variations in clarity and detail levels probably even more noticeable than they already were in the 1080 version. The slight variations in density, as well as some of the admittedly minor but noticeable damage that I mentioned in my original review are still in evidence here, and with regard to densities, I'd say are probably more pronounced in this 4K UHD version. Despite some of these passing qualms, there's a subtle but noticeable uptick in fine detail levels on things like the industrial grating in one of the many shootout scenes, and the palette, while a little wan at times despite Dolby Vision and/or HDR, warms up considerably in the long outdoor sequences, where some of the primaries are extremely striking and beautifully vivid. HDR probably improves shadow detail in the many dark or dimly lit scenes, but I have to say maybe not by a huge amount. My score is 4.25.

Drive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio enjoys a substantial uptick (in more ways than one) with a Dolby Atmos track, which accompanies DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 offerings, all of which offer more options than on the MVD disc. Both the Atmos and 5.1 tracks on this disc are incredibly immersive, and the Atmos track in particular is a whirlwind of activity both horizontally and vertically in scenes like the opening action sequence on the boat. All of the driving material offers great effects work which traverses the soundstage effectively, and the Atmos track has some very nice discrete placement of effects, even with regard to things like individual shots from guns. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Kind of hilariously the MVD release advertised subtitles and the disc actually seemed to have been authored to have them, but none were available. Here, though, optional English subtitles are available.

Drive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All of the supplements from the MVD Rewind Collection are intact here, though as seems to be the case recently, their timings can vary by a second or two from the original release (the Deleted Scenes on this disc is considerably shorter than on the MVD release). All of the SD material on the MVD disc has been upscaled to HD for this release according to my player.

• Highway to Nowhere (HD; 20:01) is a new supplement featuring Jason Tobin.


• Original Theatrical Cut (HD; 1:39:46) seems to have fixed the aspect ratio issue that was on display on the MVD Visual release, but still was sourced from an obviously less than stellar element. Unfortunately, the ostensible improvement in video is counterweighted by Dolby Digital 2.0 audio (the MVD release had LPCM 2.0 audio).


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 8:01)


• "The Force Behind the Storm" Documentary (HD; 47:43) is an archival making of featurette.


• Interview Gallery (HD; 24:41) includes Mark Dacascos, Steve Wang, Wyatt Reed, Koichi Sakamoto, and Kadeem Hardison.


• Commentary features Steve Wang, Koichi Sakamoto, Mark Dacascos and Kadeem Hardison, and can be accessed under the Setup menu.


• Original Trailer (HD; 1:42)

Additionally, the keepcase houses a folded mini-poster, and packaging features a slipcover.

Drive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Drive doesn't have any outsized ambitions, but it still is a good deal better than its straight to video background might suggest. A decent if derivative premise and some outstanding fight and stunt work make this goofily enjoyable, and this new 4K UHD release offers solid technical merits (especially audio) and appealing supplements. Recommended.